The Strength To Go On
by VGMC
Summary: While traveling the Realm of Darkness, Aqua has a bizarre run in with some mysterious creatures.


Aqua tiredly continued her trek through the Realm of Darkness. She'd been walking and fighting non-stop for days now and it was finally starting to catch up with her. She was tired and she was lost and her feet hurt and she wanted to just lay down and sleep. But she couldn't allow herself to think like that; she had to keep going, for her friends' sakes.

But it was so hard to keep going. Time was practically nonexistent in this place; what seemed like days could have been mere hours, or perhaps even weeks for all she knew. And these new creatures, these strange black beings that she had encountered during her journey through this dark realm... these things were even more tenacious than the Unversed.

As she was lost in thought, she found herself suddenly surrounded by the creatures. A number of them bore heart-shaped holes in their chests, some even going clean through. As such, she had taken to calling the creatures 'heartless'. In her tired, sleep-deprived state, Aqua's vision was too blurry to make out the individual heartless and they seemed to blend together into one massive black mass.

She loosely gripped her keyblade and readied herself to fight. Even in her current state, Aqua was still a keyblade master and slew the majority of the creatures but her tiredness suddenly hit her like a brick wall and she had trouble stay on her feet. She fell to her knees, barely any energy left, before one of the heartless brought its fist down on her and she lost consciousness.

She awoke sometime later, some of her energy having returned. She had her back up against a smooth rock and her legs stretched out in front of her. She had a strange feeling like something was watching her though. Her eyes slowly opened and adjusted, the few surviving heartless from earlier coming into view.

She immediately went for her keyblade but there was a strange, cold pressure around her wrists. She raised her head to see a shadowy black tentacle wrapped around each wrist, leading back to a large heartless towering over her at either side. There were about three more at her feet, all of the weak, baseline variety. Aqua had not idea what these creatures had planned for her but it was probably some horrible torture, followed by horrific death.

To her utter surprise, these heartless did not attack her, nor did they seem all that hostile. In fact, their body language implied... curiosity? Their heads were tilted to the sides like dogs looking at something they didn't understand. That was when things got weird.

One of the smaller heartless reached for her boot and began tugging at it. She gasped and kicked at the creature but it moved out of the way before the large heartless grabbed her ankles with another pair of tentacles. She was still able to struggle but not as much. Soon the smaller one was back at it, tugging at her boot until it finally came off, Aqua's struggling only seeming to make it loosen up more.

The air was cold on her foot, but it strangely felt rather nice. She hadn't realised just how long she'd been running around in her boots. Before she even knew what was happening, another heartless removed her other boot, the soothing coolness reaching that foot as well.

Finally, the three worked together to tug at her black stockings. Not wanting to lose those too, Aqua began squirming, moving her legs as much as she could, but she had still not fully recovered yet. Her legs tired out quickly and it all amounted to nothing. The three little heartless finally succeeded in pulling the stockings free and exposing her bare feet to the cool air of the dark place.

They were a little too cold now but Aqua had no time to react before the heartless grabbed her feet and started poking them - no, massaging them! Aqua lay there in amazement as these small inhuman creatures she had fought nonstop for who knew how long, gently and delicately rubbed her tired, worn out feet.

It was a very blissful feeling Aqua felt as the cool, alien hands of the small creatures hit all the right spots. One of them soon buried its face in her sole but she didn't mind; it felt kinda nice anyway. This was soon accompanied by the two holding her arms releasing them and using their tentacles to instead give her a shoulder massage.

Aqua was in heaven with her body being relaxed more and more by the massages, and she was even getting used to their cool touch. She was so relaxed, she was starting to feel rather sleepy. A part of her felt that it would be rude to nod off now when the heartless were doing their utmost to make her feel this wonderfully.

She focused on her feet as one heartless worked on her toes, seemingly fascinated by each one, and another rubbed its head up and down her sole like a kitten with its beloved owner. The third little heartless was no longer at her feet and Aqua wondered where it had gotten to.

She got her answer when the creature suddenly climbed up into her lap and rubbed up against her. Aqua smiled as she leaned in and kissed the creature's forehead in thanks before she lay back and finally gave in to the sweet siren call of sleep.

She once again awoke sometime later but found the creatures gone. Not only that, but her boots and stockings were snugly back on her feet. She felt so rested and full of energy now so she doubted it was all just a dream. She stood and set off once more, now feeling much more confident of her chances as she headed into the surrounding darkness.

When she later learned the origin of the heartless, she would wonder if this incident was some of their residual identities coming through. For now though, all that mattered was that Aqua had met a wonderful little group of creatures that had given her the strength to go on.


End file.
